Saturday, January 23, 2010

Before the season started, this was the show I had highest hopes for, because Oonuma Shin (ef memories/melodies) was the director. And the hopes are beginning to be realized. Maybe it just took me a while to get it. Maybe Nabeshin (Excel Saga, Puni Puni Poemi) directing episode three was what I needed, lol.

In any case, the seiyuu work here is so interesting that I've made a characters/seiyuus page with pics of characters and their seiyuus, and info about the seiyuus. Click here or on the image to go to the full page:

There's lots of good work, but I'm particularly struck by two newish names: Harada Hitomi as Himeji and Isomura Tomomi as Shouko. This is great comic character work. Both are a little over the top, but that works here. There are pics and info for both of them on the new page.Harada-san did such a great job with the entirely dissimilar character of Tomoe in Sasameki Koto. She began as a singer and has only recently switched to seiyuu work. Isomura-san is a gamer and game-seiyuu. She says about herself: "Standing, I am a seiyuu. Sitting, I am an otaku. Walking around, I am a cosplayer."

It's also great to see two other names who have done good work recently: Miharu (the yuri attacker) is played by Taketatsu Ayane, who is Azusa in K-On, Ako in kissxsis, and Vanilla in Yumeiro Patissiere.

And Yuuji is played by Suzuki Tatsuhisa, who did such a nice job as Sugata in Sora no Otoshimono and as Tezuka in Library War.

It's always great to hear Mizuhashi Kaori (Minami), who was Ogiue in Genshiken and is Miyako in Hidamari Sketch.

And Katou Emiri continues to prove that her "best new seiyuu" award for 2007 was justified. You may or may not think her voice is low enough to be a guy (Hideyoshi), but the tonality and expression are great. She was Kagami in Lucky Star and Mayoi in Bakemonogatari, among other roles.

And I like what Shimono Hiro does: here as Aki, as Jin in Kannagi, and as Hiro in ef.

Hashihime

The "Hashihime" or "Bridge Princesses," are characters in the novel The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari 源氏物語）. They are daughters of a disgraced prince, living alone with him in a small house at Uji, outside Kyoto. They are important characters in the last ten chapters of the novel.

The Genji can be considered the first real novel in the history of the world. It was written around 1000 AD by a Japanese court lady known as Lady Murasaki, or Murasaki Shikibu.

I think contemporary Japanese literature, including anime and manga, continues to preserve aspects of the Genji, among them sensitive psychological observation, a general passion for romance, and romantic interest in young girls. The main hero of the thousand-page novel, Prince Genji, had a number of present and former girlfriends living in his palace, and basically abducted his principal wife Murasaki when she was ten, marrying her when she was around 15.

notes

-- all Japanese names are written in Japanese order: surname first, given name second-- I claim no copyright on anything in this blog, unless otherwise stated